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The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys cover

The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys

Chapter 112: CAP. CIIII.
By Sir John Mandeville
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About This Book

The narrator offers a medieval travelogue that traces routes toward Jerusalem and across regions of Asia, Africa, and India, blending eyewitness-style observations, borrowed reports, and fantastic tales. It catalogs cities, landscapes, animals, plants, trade goods, and unfamiliar customs, alternating itinerary notes with moral and religious commentary. Frequent digressions present marvels and monstrous races alongside practical details about pilgrim routes, local rites, and fortifications, producing a text that shifts between guidebook information and imaginative storytelling. The structure mixes descriptive chapters with episodic anecdotes, inviting readers to weigh veracity while encountering the era's geographical knowledge, commerce, and popular curiosities.

CAP. CIIII.

How Prester Johns land lyeth foote against1 foote to Englande.

THERE yles of the land of Prester John, they are under the earth to us, & other yles are there whoso wold pursue them for to environ the earth whoso had grace of God to hold the waye, he mighte come right to the same countreys that he were come of and come from & so go about the earth, and for that it asketh so long tyme, & also there are so many perils to passe that fewe men assay to go so, and yet it might be done, & therefore men come from these yles to other yles costing of the lordship of Prester John, & men come in the coming to one yle yt men cal Cassoy, & that country is nere Lx journeys long & more than L of bredth, that is the best land that is in those countreys saue Cathay & if marchants came thither as commonly as they do to Cathay, it would be better than Cathay, for it is so thick of cities & towns yt when a man goeth out of a citie he seeth another on eche side. There is great plenty of spices and other goods. Ye king of this ile is rich & mighty & he holdeth his land of ye great Caan for yt is one of ye xii princes2 that the great Caan hath under him beside his owne lande.

1:  Antipodes.

2:  Misprint for provinces.